Floods – Thieves now targeting abandoned houses in Ngoingwa.

A section of Ngoingwa Estate that has been submerged in flashfloods. Over 30 homesteads are inhabitable with their owners seeking refuge elsewhere.

Residents of Chania Estate 6th Avenue of the
larger Ngoingwa Estate are a worried lot after over 30 households have been
submerged in flashfloods for over a month now, forcing most of them to abandon
their houses to seek refuge elsewhere.

As if that is not enough, criminals have taken advantage of
their absence to break into their homes and stealing from them.

The thieves are said to be wading into the flood water to
gain access to the deserted homes before breaking into them and stealing electronics,
furniture and other valuables. Some are also said to be stealing house fitting,
pipes, indoor fixtures and appliances from vacant houses. They are said to be
taking these material to scrap dealers for quick cash.

Wairimu Kihonge who is one of the victims say that even
after being promised by the leaders from theCounty Government of Kiambu that they would drain the water, none of
them has ever come one month down the line to salvage their situation.

They wondered how they would continue paying rates to the
county government yet they received no services in return. They also failed to
understand the relevance of the National Government Emergency Fund if at all it
wasn’t benefitting those who were in such calamities.

She however thanked Thika Red Cross officials who frequent the
area for assistance but reckoned that they lack proper equipment needed to
drain off the water.

The residents are now contemplating raising money towards
hiring some machinery to aid them drain this water.

“We have contacted an engineer who has given us a budget of
about Sh. 7 million to do the work. This is a lot of money and proving to be a
tall order,” explained Patrick Mwaura who resides at 7th avenue.

The residents add that they fear an outbreak of waterborne
diseases in the area as the water is getting mixed up with raw sewer since the
area depend on septic tanks to dispose their sewer.

On Saturday, their attempts to drain the water using hoes
and jembes hit a snag as these tools could not manage the required depth of the
intended trench.

When contacted, Eng. John Muchiri, the officer in-charge of
water and infrastructure in the office of the Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick
Wainaina said that even though the problem of drainage was a county government
function, the area MP would intervene in case nothing was done.

Noting that the lives and health of these people was
paramount, Muchiri said that they would use the little resources at their
disposal to ensure that the lives of the affected families was soon brought
back to normalcy.

“Our office does not have a kitty to deal with calamities of
this magnitude unlike the county government whose mandate this one falls. Otherwise,
we cannot sit back and watch our people suffer. If the county government fails
to act, the MP has volunteered to use his own personal resources to salvage the
situation,” he said.